The silver lining's dark cloud
by Thatspazzy Artist
Summary: After a rough storm, all anybody wants is to relax and enjoy the calm. Luckily for the Straw Hat pirates, the Grand Line likes to break the peace with a crash landing on deck.
1. Chapter 1

The nine crewmembers of the Thousand Sunny were busy enjoying one of the nicest days that they've had in a while. Considering the unpredictability of the Grand Line, with the never-ending, torrential storms that left everyone but Luffy, Robin, and Chopper feeling seasick for the past week, it was a well-deserved break.

"Hooray, it's sunny today!" cried out Chopper as he jumped in the air.

"Indeed, my sacrifice to the sea god helped us out in our time of sickness," said Usopp striking a pose that nobody really saw. Zoro had even pulled out his weights to work out. Brook played a gentle tune that echoed across the ship's deck. Nami sighed as the sea breeze brushed against her face. She turned towards Robin, who sat in the shade with a book in hand.

"I checked the map, we didn't stray too far off from our course," Nami said as she sat down in the other chair. Robin looked up, a small smile on her face.

"It's nice to know that you still have your bearings, even with all that sea sickness," she stated.

Nami nodded her head. "Well, someone has to keep us on course. By the way, how's Luffy?"

The dark haired woman took a sip of her drink before answering the navigator's question. "He's alright. The Captain just tired himself out watching over everyone. Even when it was not his turn, he still kept watch. Chopper said he just needed some rest and Sanji is busy with the big meal that Captain will want when he wakes up."

"Well, at least they're having fun" Nami stated when both women turned their heads to watch Franky, Usopp, and Chopper dance to Brook's sudden shift in music. Although it was similar to watching two boats crash, Nami couldn't look away from the impressive flailing that the three of them had managed to call 'dancing'. Robin on the other hand had gone back to reading her book, the smile still on her face as she turned the page.

After the three dancers had finally tired themselves out, Usopp and Chopper collapsed onto Sunny's deck. Franky chuckled at them.

"Say, how about I go and get some drinks from Sanji? I'm sure he'd be able whip up something," he said, striking a pose.

"I think we might go for drinks," Chopper stated wearily while Usopp merely groaned.

"Super! I'll be back soon!' the cyborg stated as he went to the kitchen to find their cook. Usopp had managed to move his body into a sitting position while Chopper leaned against him.

"Phew, who knew that dancing was so tiring? I hope Franky gets back soon," he said as he wiped the sweat off his brow. Chopper only nodded as he took off his hat to fan himself a bit, tongue sticking out.

If the two had decided to look up at this time, they would have noticed something in the sky. The thing turned to be an odd-looking shape heading straight for the ship. The odd-looking shape would have crushed the unsuspecting pair if it had not been for Nami's sudden shout of "**LOOK OUT!"**

The duo looked up in time to move out of harm's way, Chopper jumping back while Usopp dived to his left. The two were in shock as the thing that crashed onto the now-ruined deck slowly stood on two legs. Its body had a gray beetle-like look to it, with no distinctive features.

"_**food…"**_ the thing hissed before going after Chopper. The little reindeer could only stare in horror as the Thing grew four very large claws before slashing them toward his body.

"Oh no, Chopper!" cried out Usopp, arm held out.

"Yahh!" Chopper cried out as he hid his head. A loud '_CHING_!' made him look up to see Zoro blocking the claws with one of his weights. The Thing managed to move its claws a little closer before Zoro shoved the monster away from the reindeer.

"Back…OFF!" Zoro roared as he went after the intruder, swinging the weight much like one of his swords. The thing seemed to pause as if it were re-thinking its decision about what it would eat.

"Zoro, Catch!" cried out Nami before hurling his weapons from across the ship.

"Dammit be careful with those!" he shouted back as he threw the weight at the creature before catching his katanas. The thing merely shifted its body to the side, letting the weight pass by to crash into the deck behind it.

Zoro quickly unsheathed his weapons and went after the thing. Changing its claws to form one very large blade on its right arm, the monster went after the swordsman. The monster didn't seem to feel the sword's blades as it used the blade to deflect many of the cuts.

Repeatedly Zoro tried to hurt the monster, hell even damaging its would be helpful about now, and each time the monster retaliated with its own powerful moves. As the two fighters clashed once more, Zoro had backup in the form of a roundhouse kick from Sanji. The blow managed to hit the monster's head and make it stumble back a bit. As soon as the two crewmates backed off, Nami came in swinging her bo staff while Franky raised his fists.

The monster recovered quickly and slammed its fists together. Both Nami and Franky had flown back in the resulting shockwave. As they flew back, many hands sprouted from the ground holding the creature in place. As it seemed to look at the hands, Usopp's bombs reached the monster.

Usopp cheered as his attack hit. "Bulls eye!" cried out Chopper, doing a little dance. The crew relaxed a bit before they saw that the monster still stood.

"N-no way!" stuttered Franky as the thing just moved its body similar to the pose of 'was that it?' Undeterred, the monster changed its blade into a smaller, darker version before slamming its fists into the deck.

The wood splintered making the hands turn into petals, as they were no match for the monster's powerful shockwave. It looked around before 'spotting' Robin across the deck. Shifting its body back, the monster's right arm coiled up before shooting straight towards the archeologist. However, before the arm reached her, Zoro once again blocked the bladed end from his nakama while Sanji went for another kick to the monster's head.

"Oh, tha-" As Brook began to speak, the bladed end of the monster's arm erupted with what looked like red and black colored worms. They wrapped around Zoro's arms before tightening up.

"What the?" he cried out as the arm retracted, pulling his body straight towards the monster who had held onto Sanji as it held the cook in front of its body like some sort of shield. The swordsman crashed into the cook, sending the two tumbling into the ship's side, making the ship rock.

"Chopper get to Zoro and Sa-!" cried out Nami before a shadow fell over her. She looked up to see the monster shifting its arm into the large blade from before. Fear filled Nami as the monster raised its arm before swinging it down toward her head.

"**HEY! THAT'S ENOUGH!"**

The sudden shout made the monster pause its attack, blade a few centimeters from cutting into Nami's head. Everyone's heads turned to see Luffy, arms crossed as he held a large piece of meat in his hands.

"Luffy!" came the resounding shout from the crew with Usopp, Franky, and Chopper were the most energetic with their greeting having tears of happiness streaming down their faces. The still conscious crewmembers watched their captain make his way across Sunny's deck. As he got closer, the monster shifted its arm out of its bladed form before settling its body into a defensive pose. Nami had regained her senses and managed to jump back as Luffy stood where the blade nearly split her in two.

The two stood in silence as the ship creaked with the sea's motion. Luffy then threw a punch into the monster's face.

"Stop it, you're not allowed to eat them!" he cried out as the monster's entire body shimmered in reds and black as it covered the fist, the monster's shoulders tilting with.. disappointment?

All of the Thousand Sunny's residents watched with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Brook's jaw had actually fallen out of its socket and down on the ground. As everyone's brains began to catch up with the current events, the monster let go of Luffy.

"Wha-Luffy do, do you know this…thing?" Usopp managed to croak out from behind the mast, Chopper peeking out from the other side.

"Hm, Thing? Hey, nobody has _just _called you a thing. Usually they go with monster, or skin stealer, hey didn't they call you a 'cannabin' back at the island" Luffy said with a slightly thoughtful expression on his face as he turned back to the monster. It shrugged.

"**THAT'S NOT THE POINT LUFFY!" **Nami shouted, punching Luffy's head, angry tic marks appearing on her face. Her reaction along with Luffy's strange connection to the monster made the crew form a wary semi-circle around the three of them.

"Why don't you introduce us to your friend, Captain?" Robin interrupted before Nami started hitting him again. Luffy's face split into a wide grin as he shoved his straw hat back onto his head.

"Oh yeah, everybody this" he said waving to the monster "is Alex. He's in armor form right now. Alex, this" he waved to everyone else "is my nakama. You _can_ fight them, only if they want to, but _**NO **_eating them okay?" Luffy then stood proudly between a very confused crew and the now dubbed Alex.

"Armor form?" asked a confused Franky, scratching his head with his index finger. If Alex was armored, it didn't look that super. Then again the armor did face off against Zoro's swordsman skills without a scratch to show from it.

"Alex?" asked an intrigued Robin. In her time with the Straw Hat pirates, this could be one of the odder thing that they've encountered in their search for the One Piece.

"E-Eat Us!" cried out a worried Chopper while Usopp and Brook began to freak out along with the reindeer. If 'Alex' became hungry, well they _were _on a ship with nowhere to go.

Luffy nodded. "Yeah, Alex makes his skin super hard so that he can survive alotta things. One time, he fell into a trap that blew him up instead of his island and he survived that!" Behind the captain, the crew saw 'Alex' shaking its head.

While Chopper and Usopp were in the background, freaking out with the realization of this thing surviving an island explosion, everyone else just seemed surprised at the human reaction.

"So, if this is how he looks like in his armored form, does that mean he has a non-armored one too?" Brook wondered aloud.

Luffy grinned again. "Yeah he does, show them how you really look Alex!"

If Alex's face had any visible features, he would have rolled his eyes at Luffy's enthusiasm. Instead, the crew watched in awe as its body shifted between the gray covering to a swirling mass of red and black before settling onto a human form.

Alex wore a pair of black boots with blue pants and an unzipped black jacket over a grey sweater with a buttoned up white shirt underneath. He had his hood down and the crew could see the ice blue eyes contrasting against the darkened circles surrounding them. Alex scowled before moving his hands from his pockets to pull up his hood, shadowing his face and making Luffy laugh for some reason.

"So, he's a devil fruit user?" The crew turned to see that Zoro and Sanji had recovered from Alex's attacks and joined the group. Both had bruises covering their bodies but seemed otherwise okay with the fact that their captain knew a monster that had pretty much beaten them senseless.

"I think I've read about a devil fruit to harden your skin into diamonds, but not about one that is able to manipulate your form enough to create weapons from yourself," Robin mused quietly.

A sarcastic-sounding snort brought the attention back to Alex. "If it makes you feel better," he muttered, leaning against the railing "you can think that".

Nami frowned at him.

"Well, either you're a devil fruit user or you're not. There's no middle ground" she said, a steely tone to her words. Even if Luffy knew him, she wouldn't let her guard down around him, not after he nearly killed her.

"Aww, come on Alex. You can trust them, they're my nakama," Luffy said with a pout. The crew watched as Alex turned his head to stare at Luffy, who didn't stop pouting. A few moments later had Alex looking away first with Luffy smiling while his crew merely sweat-dropped at the bizarre exchange.

"Uhh, what was the-?" Brook began to ask.

"EVERYONE! It's time for a story!" cried out Luffy, grabbing onto Alex's arm as he began to run toward the kitchen. "Come on you can see the rest of Sunny while you tell them about Mountbatten!"

"It's _Manhattan _Luffy, not Mountbatten." Alex ground out as he let the straw-hat wearing captain pull him along. "What the hell would Mountbatten be anyway?"


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Rated T+ for language later on**

The crew frayed what little patience he had left as they broke the LOG pose of all things while 'sparring' on deck and the virus nearly threw off his disguised form as he glared out at his 'crew members'. There's a few things that he could do at this point. One might be to just be over and done with all that the crew's doing and just navigate the damn ship by himself to get his 'skin' to stop crawling.

Two would be…

Actually two would just be the same as one, only with a bit more violence to the 'pirates' that he's traveling with and a bit more biomass to be stored for later. Lucky for the crew that a storm appears with no warning and he's forced to help out if ONLY to get out of the damn rain that drenches the virus as he scowls into the sky.

'_Don't think I'm letting this off the hook you stupid ocean. Do your worst.'_ he thinks with a snarl, and somehow he's answered back in the form of a typhoon breaking apart the only 'dry' thing for mi-LEAGUES- around.

If there's any survivors near him, he'll be sure to rip them apart first before consuming them.

* * *

"Twenty-seven" he calls out as he lays awkwardly on the flotsam, the sun scorching his already weakened body. He needed to let loose a good part of his biomass when the ship sank and had to let even more go just to even hold onto the pieces of wood without it tipping over and getting more water soaking him.

The virus started talking out loud on day fifteen, trying to drown out the quiet noises of the waves slapping against his lifesaver that were somehow even more annoying than the few memories that stuck around in his head. His voice was getting hoarser and even more gravelly sounding but without anyone else around to give him input, it just sounded the same to the virus.

The surprising thing is that no Sea kings have gone after him as they did the other survivors of the storm. He could hear their screams of terror and cursed the beasts that ate them didn't even swim close enough to grab with his now-limited Whiplash ability.

"Whipfist." he corrects himself at some point, dulled blue eyes staring at a point in the distance. Even though he had no need to, the virus blinked several times before realizing that the point in the distance was not another illusion due to mirage. There really was a ship there. "not Whiplash."

It was bigger than he expected…much, much bigger. A bigger ship meant a bigger crew, and a better chance to hide out and restore his lost biomass. He could even get the people on it to turn on each other just as he did the last crew. They had it coming anyway, disgusting slave traders.

He could feel his 'skin' moving around, actual eagerness making the virus rise out of the lethargy that appeared while being half soaked through nearly a month out at sea. The faint noises of shouting only make him more…excited. He takes a few unnecessary breaths to calm himself and then starts to regulate his breathing to act more human. He's the predator, NOT prey.

The virus has to remember not to openly stare at the rescuers that come down the long rope ladder. Prey have a tendency of spooking if he launches his trap too soon and they're _carrying_ him up the ladder because of 'dehydration' and 'holy cow, why's he so heavy?'.

"Twenty-seven" he says and it nearly causes his doom as the rescuers startle at his harsh voice and they sway a bit in the air. Hmm, maybe he should stay quiet. The virus didn't want to end up right back where he was so close to the water. "days."

They keep up a peanut gallery of '_no ways' _and '_good gods' _all the way to the top and its such a relief to STAND on something and not worry about tipping the rest of his dried out parts back over into the water. He sways a bit as the rescuers call out for more help and There's so MANY-His remaining biomass starts squirming and they still haven't noticed-WOLF in the midst of LAMBS slaughter-breathing-heartspumpingsoclosesoCLOSE-

**FOOD**.

He doesn't notice that he said it out loud but someone else did and the group of people suddenly back away at that person's shout and are not NEAR don't they know he needs to **FEED **and- "_Just what the hell-"_ is said several times as he uses his limited abilities to get close enough and **JUST **_ONE _**BITE** and its IRKING that he can't CATCH-

Something ALIVE flies by his face and the virus is distracted long enough to snatch it out and consume it, his biomass making the familiar sounds of his own ways of eating. He only has a moment of '_fish…?_' to himself before more things-_ALIVE_-fish\- are thrown close to him and its only due to his weakened state that he lowers himself to actually grab and consume all of the thrown fish.

During one particular throw someone bright thinks that they could sneak up on him just because he's twisted around but he swings his 'hands' out and catches the satisfying sounds of screaming and the 'CRUNCH' noise that the ribs make.

They don't break and kill the prey instantly, he's still too weak to even do that? The virus growls and just as he's about to consume something tackles him to the deck. Shouts of warning are ignored as the human male straddles the virus as he starts hitting his face. Several punches later he's holding a blade against _his _throat, the biomass suddenly squirming as the blade seems to remind him of the ocean GET IT AWAY-

"Alex! Stay still ya dumbass, I'm trying to help you not get killed here!"

Now THAT was a voice he hadn't heard in quite a while. He blinks a few times in a row and the human male is now-

Several shouts of "_Ace!_", "_Just what were you thinking?!_", and even a "_What's going on here?!_" are said as Alex takes a better look at the annoyed look on the freckled face-was he wearing an orange hat?- before it blanks out and the virus is left with a snoring Ace flopping onto him as his biomass grudgingly covers the bladed weapon to move its sharp edge away from the both of them.

"Fucking narcolepsy." Alex growls as he goes upright, ignoring the tense looks from everyone else onboard as he moves around Ace's snoring form so that the teen's-or would he be a man now?- head is not flopping around. If he actually cared about what anyone else thought, he might've moved the body off of him from embarrassment with the way Ace sat on him. "Swear its got a shit sense of humor."

Everyone's staring at him, with distrustful looks speckled in between fearful ones and there's even a few blank ones as Alex narrows his eyes at the brunette with a scar on his face and a pompadour of all-

The virus didn't get a chance to think more of the odd hairstyle as a sudden feeling of POWER came across the deck and made him twist around to snarl at the gargantuan form parting the crowd surrounding him and the sleeping Ace. The narrowed eyes didn't help as his biomass started moving around in preparation for a battle.

"_You'd lose this one, he's super tough._"

The memory came out of nowhere, blurring Alex's current vision on the giant and making it form back to the time when he was still confused and angry and that THING wouldn't stop following him-there were more now, two to make the one three, and the smug look on the tiny freckled face plus the blond curly haired ones were making the virus growl as he kept eye contact with the gargantuan thing despite all the other details striving to catch his attention because he was the top PREDATOR here and he won't lose this staring contest.

* * *

This was bad, so very bad. Whatever this thing was, he wasn't human at the very least with the way it grabbed and stretched to reach the fish that Ace threw to lead the thing away from everyone else. The impromptu plan however was shot as Tom of all people tried to attack it and forced Ace to get close to it and now this stare-off with Oyaji as it sat in the middle of the deck while the fire-wielding logia snored away in its arms.

Thatch shook his head as he moved his thoughts away from the few horrifying scenarios that wanted to sprout out from the way the thing moved around in its attempts to 'eat' them and instead stared at the 'human' underneath Ace. He seemed about six feet tall with the jacket and pants an unfamiliar style to the chef as Thatch kept on observing the growling 'man'.

"How long's it been?" he said, sighing a bit as he shifted on his feet when the growls got a bit louder. Not surprising that the guy heard, seeing as how everyone still on deck else seemed to be holding their breaths as Whitebeard finally blinked. Thatch grinned sheepishly. "Whoops, sorry Pops. Didn't mean to make you lose, just wondering if we're all still gonna stand out in the sun is all."

The skeptical looks from his brothers and sisters shown his way were ignored as Thatch saw that he managed to get the attention of the growling 'man' and he had a very deadly look to the already ice-blue eyes that locked onto his own despite Ace snoring directly into his ears.

"I mean, I gotta find something else to cook since almost all those fish you guys caught are gone." the brunette continues as he manages to look away from the deadly gaze and look elsewhere. Its scary for sure but not as frightening as Oyaji's Stare-down of DOOM. "I don't blame you, you know. Twenty-seven days out at sea can make anyone ravenous for a meal."

Thatch looked back to see the icy gaze had shifted down to the deck, or maybe to Ace who's snores were getting a bit louder before the logia awoke with a loud yawning groan as he stretched. The man growled some more and it was when Ace's face looked startled for a moment before he started full-on shouting at the guy with the same tone of voice that the brunette realized:

That was a language? Apparently everyone else got the same point as they shouted out several similar versions of Thatch's realization, making Ace jump and the guy's ice-blue eyes narrow into slits at all the noise before the growling began again.

"_Alex._" the annoyed sounding tone plus the slap got the stares of everyone as the now named 'guy' glared at Ace as the logia stood up and ran a hand through the short hair. "_just let me handle this._"

"Who's your friend Ace?" Thatch pipes up from somewhere behind him and the freckled man sighs as he rubs a hand over his face while taking his fallen hat from Alex's hands as the virus stands up and stares at him for some reason.

"His name's…Alex." the logia says slowly, gauging the crowded Whitebeard pirates before looking over to the captain himself as he tried not to shuffle his feet in hesitation. "Pops, he won't be a problem. I told him what he shouldn't do while-"

"_You're different._" the hooded man interrupts, making Ace look over to the narrowed yellowed eyes and oh damn it- "_you weren't this…color before._"

He's not nervous as the virus moves closer, eyes still narrowed though they changed back into blues as the rest of the crew shuffles and mutters nervously at the tiny distance between the two of them. Ace nearly rolls his eyes at the unnecessary tension that the virus makes and instead shows off his 'new' powers by making his shoulders flame out.

"…_I ate the Mera Mera no mi Alex. I'm now literally a hot head._" he says with as little sarcasm as he can put in, though judging by the look on the virus' face it doesn't work. Ace rolls his eyes because its all he really can do with the odd expression on the 'older' man's face. "_it doesn't hurt-_"

"Of course it doesn't." Alex hoarsely says as he grunts at the shocked noises of the others around him. Ace's witty comeback died out in his throat as the shout of 'MARINES!' has the virus' head snapping up so fast that a few crewmembers still watching them look alarmed.

"Alex wai-" the logia begins but he blinks and Alex is gone from sight, the shouts of surprise clueing him in on where the virus went 'park-cowering' off to. "Damn it- Pops! Don't send anyone over, not while Alex is fighting!"

The surprised looks on the faces that stopped to listen to him are ignored as Whitebeard looks down, a curious yet still suspicious look on the ancient face as Ace continues.

"Let's just say he's a bit…well bloodthirsty if its anything to do with the Marines." he says as the Whitebeard pirates' eyes widen at the faint sounds of screaming and the nervous look on Ace's face making the crew members sweat drop.

* * *

AN #2: Why should the Strawhats have all the fun?


End file.
